A folk tradition in rural Taiwan is to hire young women to strip at a funeral ceremonies, and is deemed an important part of the grieving process, as a way to send off the recently dead. Some said it was because new ghosts (i.e. the spirit of the recently deceased) get picked on by older ghosts, thus the show was done to distract the older ghosts in order to let the new ghost get used to his new surroundings in peace.

Apparently, the custom came to the fore in the early 1980s and is basically associated with the working class.

The scantily clad girls hop on an Electric Flower Car [EFC] (which are actually diesel trucks with a stage attached and multicoloured lighting installed), then sing while erotically gyrating to pop numbers, finally stripping down to full nudity.

Surely scenes like this is few and far between elsewhere around the world

The government isn’t condoning it – it’s actively trying to crack down on the practice.

Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

They could be the only tribe in the world where homosexuality is not only allowed, it is a requirement in order to be accepted.

That’s right, they believe that to come of age, young boys must perform oral sex on, then consume the semen of their elders.

In the Baruyas’ case, when a boy reaches 8 years of age, he begins the ritual on older males 12 years and older.

More shockingly, gay acts, most prominently fellatio is encouraged all through the youth of their males.

If the very moniker makes you gag, consider that the locals say it tastes like milkshake.

Cost: NZ$10 a shot, inclusive of an energy drink chaser dubbed Powerhorse.
Flavours: au naturel, cherry, licorice, banoffee pie

How did they get the semen out? Why, with an artificial vagina of course!

Care to try? If you’re up for it, perhaps it’s best to get ready the paramedics with their medical computer carts close by.

Perhaps the only thing that can rival that is the barbecued baby monkeys of the Amazon.

Why, a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, what else?

Photo credit: cockroach.com

While quite a lot of people might consider a business credit card as a perfect V-Day gift, in February 2011 the Bronx Zoo came up with a truly unique idea: pay USD10 and you get to name a roach (presumably after your better half), and a certificate to make it offical.

The text at the name-a-roach section of the zoo’s website includes the following:

Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.

Limited-time Valentine’s Day offer

Can’t decide on what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day? Sometimes the answer is all around us, and right where it’s been for millions of years—like cockroaches! How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after them?

Naming a roach in honor of someone near and dear to your heart shows that you’ve noticed how resilient, resourceful, and loyal that person is. Or maybe it’s in recognition of your one and only’s virility, or strength in the face of high radiation. You’re not afraid to say, “Baby, you’re a roach!”

But not just any roach….He or she is a Madagascar hissing roach, the biggest and loudest of these stalwart insects. WCS’s Bronx Zoo has 58,000 of these brown, iridescent beauties, and they need names. With a $10 donation, one of them can be named by you. How sweet!

We’ll send a truly memorable certificate of honor to that certain someone explaining that there’s a special insect living at the Bronx Zoo with his or her name on it.

Where does my money go?

Your $10 donation helps WCS conserve species big and small, beautiful and damned. With your support, we’ll continue to do our work saving wildlife in the forests of Madagascar and throughout the world’s most majestic wild places.

But why these buggers? Simple. The insect’s family life is exemplary: the parents and kids stay close to each other for a long time, unlike most other insects. They don’t fly away, they are gentle, and perhaps most importantly, they’ll never bite. And they can do amazing things like effortlessly climb up a vertical face of smooth glass.

Source
Huffington Post, 11 Feb 2011

A diver aged 34 had just been winched up after a dive and joined to the trunk, left his wet gear in it, then climbed through the trunk into a chamber.

The diver was about to close the door between the trunk and the chamber he entered when, for some reason, one of the divers outside opened a clamp which resulted in explosive decompression of the chamber, from a pressure of 9 atmospheres to 1 in a fraction of a second. A tremendous blast shot from the chamber through the trunk, pushing the bell away.

The diver was shot out through the small jammed hatch door opening, and was ripped apart. Having being exposed to the highest pressure gradient, he violently exploded due to the rapid and massive expansion of internal gases. All of his thoracic and abdominal organs, and even his thoracic spine were ejected, as were all of his limbs. Simultaneously, his remains were expelled through the narrow trunk opening left by the jammed chamber door, less than 60 cm in diameter. Fragments of his body were found scattered about the rig, and one fragment was found at an unexpected place, on the rig’s derrick, 10 m directly above the chambers. Mercifully, his death was most likely instantaneous and painless.

This is a video of an explosive decompression:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The committee investigating the accident concluded it was due to human error on the part of one of the divers outside who opened the clamp. He was also killed.

Source

If one can see photos of the aftermath, not that I could find any, I’d imagine the experience must be a little more unnerving than going through hidroxycut reviews…

- white wedding dress
- studio photography session in that dress
- wedding planner
- reception at a banquet hall for 30
- honeymoon in Australia
- budget: USD$5,675

Her photos are all over the web, starting with her Facebook page

The only difference is that she’s the only one being celebrated, because she’s marrying… herself!

Hmm… that means she doesn’t need to worry about finding out the best way to get rid of blackheads, no?

In her own words:

I am not inspired by the men I’ve met, yet I’m facing social pressure to get married. Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven’t found a partner, so what can I do? It’s not that I’m anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition.

Some idea indeed. I wonder how her closest family members thought of that.

There’s only one thing she can’t do – register the marriage.

But her last words are rather encouraging, which is that if she finds a man later she will get married for real.

Still, I can’t help but feel that this was an elaborately staged thing to attract attention to herself, for reasons best known to Ms Chen herself.

But this tops everything I have ever seen.

Sex is even used to sell coffins!

Presenting… Italian coffin (and anything funeral-related, including urns and funeral art) maker Cofanifunebri’s 2008 calendar.

This was the calendar for January 2008:

No contest, this is the sexiest coffin calendar ever, but if somehow you still got turned on by that, probably even a testosterone cream won’t be able to help.

In fact, they have been producing such calendars since 2003!

The rest of the series used to be available at wauifekt.com.

It did not cause him any discomfort for a long time.

Still, Vu, now a farmer, wanted to remove it “a long time ago”, but could not afford the cost.

But then it caused him fever and breathing difficulties. It was then that he decided that enough was enough and sought help.

So, 30 years later in 2007, doctors at Thanh Hoa hospital removed the bullet, for free, after a 3-hour operation, then showed it to him. It was already rusty.

The patient was fine and was sent home.

Vu might be all skin and bones after his ordeal, but I bet bullets are not in the list of fat burners in apidexin reviews…

Source
Yahoo! News, 24 Dec 2007

However, it was reported by the BBC on 20th April 2010 that according to Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi, a cleric from Tehran, Iran, earthquakes are not caused by any of those, or sudden releases of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves, but rather women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously.

In other words, sluts are mass murderers.

He explains succintly thus:

…women should stick to strict codes of modesty to protect themselves. Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes. What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble? There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam’s moral codes.

I suppose that even includes advertisements showing scantily clad young women showing their new svelte bodies after a quick weight loss round.

In Iran, earthquakes have killed tens of thousands in the last 10 years, including 25,000 when a quake hit the city of Bam in 2003.

Source
The BBC, 20th April 2010

Judging from the Malaysian experience that made the news, it would seem that it’s either one of Nigeria, Sumatera (Indonesia) or Lombok (Indonesia).

Nigeria – case study

It was reported in The Star on 19th April 2010 that Sofea, a fiftysomething grandmother was introduced to Fareed, a Nigerian 2 years ago. He was a smooth operator who whispered sweet nothings in her ear – even calling her “princess” – and cooked her traditional Nigerian food.

She fell madly in love with him, even though:
- by her own admission, he was “not handsome”
- Fareed cheated her of RM600,000.
- Fareed was arrested in Malaysia for using forged travel documents to enter the country
- saw for herself that the man was living in luxury with money she gave him.
- she knew that while Fareed was in Malaysia, he had other girlfriends and was also accused of stealing from them.

What did she do instead?

- demanded divorce from her crippled husband,
- bought Fareed an air ticket for his trip home back in May 2009
- flew to Nigeria to see him
- wanted to “live and die with him”
- paid the rental for his condo in KL

Lombok – case study

The Star reported on 30th October 2008 that Noor Fadilah Ahmad of Selangor was 15 when she first got to know Indonesian labourer Nasrudin Dahrom, 20+ who hails from Lombok, an area east of Java.

3 years later, on 6th September 2008 she eloped with him to his hometown.

Her mother said what’s usually said in a hushed tone: girls who run away with men from Lombok rarely, if ever, see their families again.

Her parents only managed to locate and bring her back in late October 2008, and Fadilah “regretted her actions.”

Nasrudin said they were married in Lombok Timur on 11th October but apparently that was not the case, as there were no supporting documents to back him up.

Nasrudin had the cheek to say: “This is our destiny. I ask for forgiveness from her father. If necessary I will kiss his feet.”

Sumatra – case study

It was reported by The Star on 16th April 2010 that for the past 5 months, an average of one Malaysian man have been marrying a woman from Sumatra daily, most of them as second wives.

And that was the reported ones: there could be “much more”, unreported such marriages.

The woman usually worked in Malaysia as maids, factory workers or cleaners, and many are divorcees with children.